Following the PM’s announcement on 22 May 2024, Parliament will be prorogued on Friday 24 May 2024 and formally dissolved on Thursday 30 May 2024 - in accordance with the Dissolution and Calling of Parliament Act 2022. This leaves only 2 days for the “wash up” process. The General Election will take place 25 (working days) later on Thursday 4 July 2024. Parliament will reconvene on Thursday, 9 July with the King’s Speech expected to take place on Wednesday 17 July 2024.
When Parliament is dissolved, every seat in the House of Commons becomes vacant. All business in the House comes to an end. MPs stop representing their constituencies. There will be no MPs until after the general election. Members of the House of Lords are appointed, not elected so retain their positions.
Over 100 MPs have already announced that they will not be standing for re-election, 68 of whom are Conservatives. Parliamentary constituency boundary changes since the last General Election mean that MPs whose seats are changing significantly – or even being abolished – may have to choose whether to attempt to gain selection as a candidate in a different seat or to stand down.
Public bills cannot be carried over from one parliament to the next. The period of the last few days of a parliament, during which unfinished business must be agreed by both Houses or lost at dissolution, is known as ‘wash-up’. During this period, because there is not enough time to complete parliamentary consideration in the usual way, the Government is reliant on the cooperation of the Opposition to secure its legislation. The Government and the Opposition reach agreements on the bills—or parts of bills—that should be hurried through their remaining parliamentary stages to reach the statute book before dissolution.
As noted above, Parliament only has 2 days for this wash up period. At the time of the announcement of the the General Election, 16 government bills were making their way through Parliament. These included the Data Protection and Digital Information bill scheduled to begin Report stage in the House of Lords on 10 June 2024. Civil society has raised several concerns about the bill and its implications for human rights - including the right to privacy, non-discrimination, and access to justice. At the time of writing, the bill has not been tabled for wash up so will fall.